1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of conveying paper sheets in a paper sheet handling machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
One typical example of paper sheet handling machines for handling paper sheets, such as banknotes or bills and business forms, is an automated teller machine used in financial facilities. One proposed internal structure of the automated teller machine inside a cash slot has plate members (push plates) arranged to apply a pressing force onto bills and conveyor belts for conveyance of bills arranged in parallel with the push plates (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H03-192049). The automated teller machine of this prior art structure uses the conveyor belts to automatically draw in bills inserted into the cash slot at the time of a cash deposit transaction and to automatically discharge bills from the cash slot at the time of a cash withdrawal transaction. The user can thus insert and take out the bills without inserting the hand or fingers.
In the automated teller machine of the prior art structure, however, the bill may be bent or folded inside the cash slot, due to the positional relation between the conveyor belts and the push plates. There may be accordingly a bill jam in the course of feeding the inserted bills into the automated teller machine. For example, when there is a difference in level between the location of the conveyor belts and the location of the push plates relative to the inserted bills, the level difference bends the bills and feeds the bills in the bent state inside the machine. This may cause a bill jam. Similarly a bill jam may occur when the user inserts bills in a misaligned state or when the user inserts a large bundle of bills. Such a bill jam may also occur in the case of delivery of bills. This problem is not characteristic of the automated teller machine but is commonly found in any types of other paper sheet handling machines.